Gotham: the Dreaming
by aging young rebel
Summary: Everything that sleeps dreams, but what happens when the dreams become real. Worst what happens when the dreams become nightmares. Gotham is Awakening. SandmanBatman crossover
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Batman and all other Heroes belong to DC and Vertigo. I owe nothing thus you get nothing for suing me.

Gotham: the Dreaming

Chapter 1

For many Gotham is, and always will be, the nightmare of urban America. It is the best example of how a city and its inhabitants can go from the dreams of the founding fathers to the very embodiment of what every televangelist defines as corrupting evil. But even though it is considered to be one of the more dangerous places to live, Gotham is home to millions of people. They go to work, go home and generally try to live there lives the way they were taught American life should be lived. Free, a car in every garage and, if you are very lucky, a beautiful family that loves you and you love in return. For some, that life was either never offered to them or was forcibly taken away from them; acid baths, deformed face, mutagenic experiment, etc. They, in an attempt to gain what they lost or to simple make everyone feel like they do, are the reason that Gotham is, as was for mentioned, a very close facsimile to one of the first circles of hell. While others, also either never offered or lost the American dream has made it there mission in life to end, or simply minimize, the terror and pain that the first group inflicts on the general public. This is there tale.

"It was a dark and windy night, the moon was full but shrouded by eerie clouds that seemed to grasp it in…cloudy…shadowy….AAAHHHH" Cassandra Cain, better know as Bat-Girl, mentally cried in frustration. Due to the insistence, or nagging as some less refined people would describe it, of her mentor and friend Barbara Gordon, a.k.a Oracle, a.k.a Original Bat-Girl, a.k.a Babs (but only to friends), Cassandra Cain was trying to think verbally. Barbara seems to think that if Cass (again only to friends) was to clearly define every thought into words it would help her in understanding language. The only trouble is that Cass's vocabulary is not quite developed yet for such deep complexities as describing a Gotham midsummer night. It also didn't help that her other friend Tim Drake, a.k.a Robin, a.k.a Boy Wonder, had attempted to help her by offering her, what he considered, good reading material to expand her vocabulary. This reading material came in the form of one of H.P LoveCraft's compilation; the theory behind it is that if Cassandra can go through the compilation not only would it expand her vocabulary it would also help her understand the mind of mad men in general.

Thankfully for any breakable material around Bat-Girl a persisting beeping sound in her ear diverged her attention from the frustration of language. "Bat-Girl here" she said with as much control as she could muster at the moment. "Bat-Girl! Its Oracle… We have another sighting; you are the closest. 7th and Brookfield." All thought of moons and vocabulary were forgotten at once, as excitement filed Cassandra; if she hurried, she might be the one that solves the mystery that has had the entire bat clan running in circles for the past few months.

It started innocently enough, one to many sighting of Batman or one of his colleagues. At first it was thought that another would be vigilanty has taken the mantle of the Bat to fight crime. Or, for the more pessimistic, someone was just setting his credentials in an attempt to frame the Bats for a certain crime, it wouldn't be the first time someone tried to do that. It wouldn't have been the top priority of the clan, except for one event that changed all that. Robin came across this fake Batman; and he swore that it was the real one. Now for some this might not seem like a reason for the controlled panic that the Bat clan is going through; those who think that, they do not know why Tim Drake was chosen as the third Robin. It was not because of a feeling of understood lost as the first Robin, or simple loneliness as the second Robin. Tim Drake was chosen because of his mind, his detective skills are only second to the Batman, and it is thought that Tim was going to surpass his mentor in a few more years. So when Tim Drake tells you that he could not distinguish the difference between the two Bats it is a reason for worry.

But it was not only the Batman; there were confirmed sightings of Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and a slew of other heroes. These heroes would show up to help some innocent victim by chasing the villain away or, in the case of the Wonder Woman sighting, lecture the villain. But it is not only heroes that have made appearances; one criminal was chased down Main Street by an Arabian knight, one criminal that got it in his head to try and rape a nun had the fear of God put in him when lighting came down from the heavens and left a message of fire in the wall besides him. The nun is up for sainthood when she dies and the would be rapist is a born again Christian.

At first these phenomena were accept by most of the Bat clan as a great help in the endless war against crime. But soon the down side of it, the one that Batman foresaw, became clear. Even though the criminals were chased away, they were very rarely captured. Sometimes the criminal would have an accident; driving there cars into walls that they swore where not there being one of the main reasons, or in rare cases the criminal would be chased into a police station or patrol. Still it has given the criminal element of Gotham the delusion that if they ran hard enough they might be able to escape. This has made most captures harder for the Bat clan. At first it would simply take a flutter of a cape for the criminals to lose hope; now it took the clan to hunt them down and to put the fear of the night back into them.

Still, if she was fast enough she might be the one that is able to solve the mystery, Batgirl thought (without actually visualizing the words, since she wanted to focus on getting there without falling down a 15 storey building). Cass couldn't contain all of her glee; this was her chance to prove to the rest of the clan that she was more then just the muscle. All she needed to do was to get there in time.

Thankfully it seemed that she had. She found a roof top where she could watch the scuffle without being seen, but close enough to jump in when she needed. Cassandra had to remind herself that it was not Batman that was down there; the real Batman was in the Bat cave doing Batman related things (which in this case was to brood). Even though she knew the truth, what her eyes, ears and all her other senses told her was that that was Batman. It was only when he punched one of the thugs that the illusion failed to fool her; it wasn't the way Batman had thrown the punch but more on the way the thug took it. He went flying back; that would seem to be normal, but not for Batgirl, for who body language is her first language. It was like watching a Hong Kong action movie; the thug flew back not because of the momentum of the punch but because he threw himself back. The problem is that he didn't do it concisely; his senses told him that he was punched, thus his body acted what he knew should be the excepted result. The punch had no kinetic force behind it. When Batgirl figured that out she started to see other flaws.

The most obvious one was Batman himself, the way he moved was… wrong. It seemed like an English man speaking Arabic; even though he knows the language, understands the grammatical rules and knows the vocabulary, any Arab will be able to tell you that it is not his first language. They don't stress the right syllable. It was the same for this Batman; his body language was not second nature. Cassandra was the only one in the world who would be able to see and understand that. The second clue was how good he is. He was not anticipating the attacks; he was fighting from a script. The thugs expect not to hit him and thus they never do. The real Batman gets hit, even by two bit thugs like these two. The last clue was his shadow, it did not move the way he did.

Finally the thugs had had enough and were going for a quick exit, and like always this Batman didn't chase them down. Unfortunately for them, Batgirl was there to stop them. "As I swoop down on them like an avenging angel they…q… qu... quake in scare… no that not right… hum… they quake in… FEAR. Yes that right word." Since they were only two bit thugs, Batgirl figured she had the opportunity to work on her speaking skills by narrating the fight in her head. Alas the fight didn't last long enough for her to really get into the narration.

"I had them I really didn't need your help Batgirl!" Cassandra wiped around and had to stop the reflexive action of bowing her head whenever Batman criticized her. She had to remind herself that it was not really Batman that was giving her the Look. But it was so hard, the timber of his voice, the smell (latex and sweat) and even his aura where all vintage Batman. This was no shapshifter that had taken the form of Batman; it WAS Batman. She should know the difference. One of the training that Batman had her, and all of the other Bat crew, go through was with the Martian Manhunter. To tell the tell tale signs of a shapshifter.

With a low growl Batgirl charged with a quick combo of kicks and punches. The fake Bat simple flowed around them like water. His punch on the other hand went through her guard and connected. With a grunt she backed a few steps away. "What the hell are you doing Batgirl?" the statement was issued with a slow deliberative voice; again vintage Batman. Cassandra didn't answer, she was checking herself mentally. It wasn't real; even though she felt it the second it connected the pain wasn't there anymore. A punch like that would have made her abs ache for a few days at the least.

"Telepath!" the thought shot through her. It explained everything, the ability to predict where her punches where going to land, the ability for them to hurt her even though they had no force behind them. She was fighting in her head. Armed with that knowledge, she took a second to go through the mind exercise that would block any mind readers from her mind and went on the offensive again. And again he dodged her attacks; that just pissed her off. She was better then Batman in hand to hand. Batgirl knew that she CAN hit him, and hit him she did. Her fist connected with his jaw with a satisfying thud. Flesh on flesh no doubt about it, but she pushed her fist farther; and suddenly her balance was gone as the resistance vanished. She stumbled through him as if he was nothing more then a ghost. By the time she turned around she was alone on the sidewalk with the two unconscious criminals.

The sudden sound of running feet in the ally near by was all the indication that someone was there. Batgirl chased after them, if she could not only figure out that it was a telepath but also capture him or her it would be the coup that she always wanted. To solve the case that not even Robin could even begin to figure out would prove to all of them that she was not stupid, no matter what Oracle thought. Deep down Batgirl was still hurt by what Barbara had said, even though it was in a moment of great stress; Oracle had apologized countless times, but for someone that can read body language Batgirl knew that she still believed what she had said.

Her thoughts were cut short as she found herself face to face with a wall that was at least five stores high. "Stupid… if telepath make Batman smell right easy for him to make sound of footsteps." She mumbled to herself as she smacked her head against the wall. "Batgirl report, have you made contact… Batgirl are you alright. Cass please say something." Cassandra didn't want to answer; she felt ashamed. The telepath was right there that is why he had used the divergence. He could have been standing right besides her, and she like a rooky had fallen for it. Her one chance to prove that she was just as smart as Robin was lost to her because she was too cocky

"Batgirl please respond… I am gonna send backup." That got Batgirl's attention; the last thing she needed was for the others to get worked up for nothing. Besides she might not have figured out who it was but she knew what it was. That was something and next time she wasn't going to be fooled that easily. Feeling much better about her self Batgirl pressed the little button on her ear piece. "Batgirl here. I made con…contact. F… fu…fugitive got away." "It's ok Batgirl. You had me worried there for a bit. We'll get him next time." Oracle answered. If it wasn't for the mask, Batgirl would have lost all her street rep because of the impish smile that was plastered on her face. "Didn't get him… but know what he is!" Cassandra said with triumph. "Oh! Are you gonna share it with the rest of the class Cassandra or are you going to just sound smug about it." Oracle shot back with amusement in her voice.

"Telepath! It telepath… we are fighting a telepath" Cassandra said with conviction.

End of chapter One.


	2. Chapter 2

Before you, my dear readers get started on chapter 2; I would like to clarify certain things. First as the name of this fanfic might imply, and to those who understand this implication, this will be a semi-crossover with vertigo's Sandman. I say semi because it will have at its center ideas that where mentioned (but not stressed upon) in the comic. Some of the characters are also secondary characters from the comic.

Thank you.

Disclaimer: Batman and all other Heroes belong to DC and Vertigo. I owe nothing thus you get nothing for suing me.

Gotham: the Dreaming

Chapter 2

"It's not a telepath."

That statement, said in a tone of utter certainty, nearly drove Batgirl to murder. Not literal murder mind you, but more on the lines of mental murder; the art of imagining killing Batman in a multitude of painful ways (with a verbal narrative to go with because Barbara insists on it).

It has been a very frustrating three hours for Cassandra Cain; after the telepath, because she was sure it was a telepath, had escaped her. She returning to the Bat cave (named as such because it's a cave full of bats); she gave a full summary of her encounter with her conclusions. She was rather proud that she had needed Robin to help her find the right words only twice. Of course it wasn't the best summary because there where a lot of it that had to do with her own unique skill; it is rather hard to explain color to a man born blind.

Batman had listen without questions, then sat for half hour thinking; brooding as Tim said, then gave that statement with out explanation.

"Yes it was!" she answered with as much certainty, she had already had dealings with a telepath; and not even the Batman was going to rain on her parade. "I no stupid… I am NOT stupid. I had de… deal… dealing with telepath before. I know signs." She continued before he could interrupt her with an "I'm-right-your-wrong" grunt. Cassandra knew she that she was sounding a bit childish, but so did he by simply dismissing her claim out of hand. If it was Robin who had said it was a telepath Batman wouldn't dismiss it that fast.

Until that very moment Cassandra didn't know how much it meant to her to be right. Every since the incident with Coldcase (Please refer to "Justice League Elite"), her confidence in herself, and the confidence in her by the rest of the Bat crew, has been shaken. She didn't know if she was in love with him, or if it was a crush like the one she had on Super boy and the rebel. But she was wrong. And it had left her unsure of a lot of things.

She was surprised to feel her eyes stinging, and she didn't have her mask on to hide that. Her father Cain would be disappointed in her; crying because some one disagreed. But it was so hard not to, all of the Bat clan has had a very turbulent year; some more then others, all of them had lost something or someone. She needed to more then just the muscle, she needed to be more then just the weapon, and she needed to be more, period; if for no other reason then her own self-esteem.

The sight from Batman got her out of the depressing spiral that she was going into. "Cassandra… listen to me. Go up stairs, get something to eat, shower and then come back." Batgirl completely missed the gentle tone that Batman had used or the fact that he had pulled of his cowl when he said it. All she heard was that she was dismissed and for once she was going to stand her ground and argue until he saw reason.

"Please."

That one word nearly floored her; it did Robin, who was lounging in one of the computer chairs. To hear Batman, well more Bruce, say that had to be one of the rarest things in the world. Poor Cassandra didn't know what to do, how can you argue with someone who isn't acting like a big jerk? "Please." To hear it again was more then she could fathom.

"Come Cass, Alfred has some soup ready, and I think he made some cookies if my nose didn't trick me." Tim said, nudging her towards the stairs. "Cookies! What kind?" Cass answered in a small hopeful voice. "Chocolate Chip!" Tim responded with a wide grin. Dick, a.k.a Nightwing, a.k.a original Robin, a.k.a former Boy Wonder, a.k.a "Oh my god did you get a look at that ass", or "Mr. Ass" (but only to the opposite sex); had once deducted that Alfred's cookies was the only thing that kept the Bat clan sane, saner. To prove his theory he had snuck one of these cookies into the laboratory, and put it through every test known to man; the tests were inconclusive. Tim, never to be out done by his older bro, had then theorized that instead of putting the criminals in Arhkam, they should instead tie them up and force feed them the cookies; in an attempt to reform them. That theory, unfortunately, has never been put to the test. Yet (might write a fanfic about just that who knows).

"I think you're right!" Tim's statement would, of course, had more of an impact had his mouth not been full of cookies at the time, but the thought remained valid. Batgirl looked at him with some reservation; it might simply him trying to make her feel better after all. "Empress, this girl that was a teammate of mine during Young Justice, she was a telepath and she use to be able to predict my moves like what happened to you." He continued, more talking to himself then her. Cassandra could tell that he believed what he was saying and not just saying it out of pity; which would have resulted in him have some broken bones. "And I've read about telepaths who are strong enough to make you think and feel things that aren't there." "That's what happened to you right?" Cassandra only nodded.

"But Cass, you know Batman. He wouldn't shoot an idea down unless he had proof that it wasn't valid." He continued, trying to make her see the other side of this little debate. It hurt Tim to see the mighty Cassandra Cain look so close to tears. He wasn't sure what happened with the whole Elite undercover thing; but from what he could dig up, Cass had gotten involved with one of the members and he turned out to be a murder. He had no idea, why she was so sensitive to the word stupid, but he figured it had something to do with Oracle. Barbara had a temper, and she might have said something that she probably regrets.

"Not if hy… hy… hypo…" "hypothesis" she gave him a glare. "Hypothesis came from you. From me he think it wrong… think it stupid… probably think I stupid too… maybe right." The last bit was mumbled but not low enough for Tim to have missed it. "Hey! Ok so you screwed up a few times big deal. All of us have screwed up once or twice. Hell in Dick's caser it's in the two dozen times. That doesn't mean you're stupid and it sure as hell doesn't mean that we think that either." Tim said with force as he leaned towards Batgirl and held her hand; the one without the cookie. "For what it's worth, I think you're right. And I'm sure that Bruce thinks your idea has merit. He probably is gonna explain why he thinks it's wrong when you go back down." He said gently, too gently.

"Wow her hand is soft… is she shaking? Oh God! What are you doing Drake? Say something; don't just stare at her like that. Oh God! Is she leaning forward or is that me? ohgodohgodohgodohgod" his thoughts were going into overdrive, his body on the other hand had decided to go into lockdown. Cassandra's thoughts were going down similar pathways, without the visualization of the words since her visualization abilities were being used for other things at the moment; with a chorus of "Ohshitwhatdowhatdowhatdo" going in the background.

"Oh my word!"

Those three syllables had the power to cut the overdrive protocols and return manual control to the young teens. Of course they also had the affect of catapulting them to opposite sides of the kitchen. "I hope you left some cookies for Master Dick when he comes from patrol." Even though they had control of there motor functions, it seemed as if verbal communication was still out of reach. That is until Batgirl managed to get a "Batman waiting gotta go" out and made a hasty retreat. The current Boy Wonder on the other hand had no such excuse and thus had the full weight of Alfred's silent stare dropped on him. The last thing that Cassandra heard was Alfred's patented fess up voice asking Tim: "Is there something you wish to talk about Master Timothy?" And Tim's articled response of "huh".


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Batman and all other Heroes belong to DC and Vertigo. I owe nothing thus you get nothing for suing me.

Gotham: the dreaming

Chapter 3

Schooling her emotions, Cassandra Cain made her way down to the Bat cave. What Tim had said, not to mention what happened afterward, where still fresh in her mind. More the "what" happened afterward, but the talk was still there, and that's what she needed to concentrate on. She needed to stop feeling sorry for her, not to mention to forget her feelings for Coldcase, and start to act like Batgirl. Not an over emotional teenager.

She found Batman still sitting in front of the main computer; although she couldn't exactly see what he was doing, it looked like he was reviewing tapes of past crimes he was in. His cowl was still off, and as he heard her nearing he turned to watch her make her way down the stairs. She couldn't miss his body language as he watched; it was a mix of guilt, pride and other emotions that were hard for her to define. He's been feeling a lot of guilt lately; almost as if he took on his shoulders all the evil that had happened to his extended family as of late. Cassandra felt her own tingling of guilt, she should have trusted him, shouldn't have made him feel like he was hurting her; no matter how true that was.

"Feeling better Cass?" he asked gently; that was something else that he's been doing a lot of lately too. Trying to sound gentler, actually trying to listen to what the others are feeling. He's still got a long way to go but for Bruce that was a very big step. Dick seems to think it has something to do with Selena Kyle, a.k.a Catwoman, a.k.a "WOW… nice whip", who Bruce has been seeing outside of uniform. Whatever the reason, Cass had to admit it felt kind of nice, weird but nice. She only nodded to acknowledge his inquiry, and he only nodded back, that is the way they where use to acting and too much change to quickly was not something either of them were use to.

He went back to typing away at his computer, took a CD and made his way to the back of the cave. Cassandra fallowed, since that's what it looked like he wanted from her. It took Cassandra a minute to figure out where he was leading her; she had never been there, and saw no reason for wanting to go there. It was the teleporting pad to the JLA headquarters. Batman took his place at the pad and motioned her to take her place besides him. Feeling slightly apprehensive, not afraid of course, after all if this was anything like the ones on Star Trek, a show that she had to watch nearly religiously when she was living at the Clock tower with Barbara; this thing was going to atomize her and then re-atomize her instantly on the moon base. She had no idea what that meant, but it didn't sound like something she wanted to feel.

Fighting monsters from a shadow dimension was one thing, it wasn't that bad after all they bled like anything else when you stuck a sword into them, but to become nothing then back to something a thousand miles away was not something she was looking forward to. "You're going to feel a moment of vertigo after we reach the other side, don't worry, it happens to everyone the first time." Batman told her. Before she could have second thoughts he pressed a button and Batgirl was in hell.

The first thought that past her mind was that it was a very stupid idea to have a mask that didn't have a hole for her mouth; because of this little oversight she was going to drown in her own vomit. Thankfully someone was there to pull it of her head; but that didn't help her with the fact that the world seemed to have gone head over heels. Her sense of balance was gone, she couldn't figure out up from down. Of course that wasn't that important because she was back to puking out all the wonderful cookies that she had; they didn't taste nearly as good coming up as they did going down. The convulsions that she going through didn't help the matter either, or the fact that it felt like her head was going to explode.

Someone turned her on her back, at least she thought it was her back, and forced his hand into her mouth; probably to stop her from biting her own tongue or worst swallowing it. "Medical emergency. We have a medical emergency, get her to sickbay NOW" she felt someone else pick her up, or was it put her down; she wasn't sure about anything, and then her experience took a turn for the worst. She was moving, but it was too fast, her eyes told her that the world had stopped moving or was it that she was the one that was frozen in time. It was too much for her, and thankfully she lapsed into the darkness.

Cassandra felt herself come back to wakefulness and tried her hardest to stay exactly where she was; after all here the world understood that up was up and down was down. At the end though the voices all around her were what pushed her back to full consciousness; she opened her eyes with a small whimper fearing another attack. Thankfully none came, although she felt wrong; the same way when she was in the shadow dimension with Coldcase, where they shared there first kiss. It was hard to describe, it just felt wrong to her senses; her balance was slightly off.

"What went wrong J'onn?" she heard the unmistakable voice of Batman demand. "It seems that she went through epileptic shock due to severe vertigo." The equally unmistakable voice of J'onn Jonz answered; it was monotones but full of love for everyone. "Severe vertigo? J'onn I saw this girl jump down a building head first and do cartwheels that would have left the tire of a bus dizzy." It took Cassandra a few second to identify the third voice. It was the Flash; she liked the Flash, he reminded her of Tim in a lot of ways. He was kind, nice and pure, but there was pain hidden behind the smiling face. She had served with him in the Elites, and unlike everyone else there, he was the only one without blood on his hands; the only one that didn't have a dark past, unlike her.

"It is because of that that she had the attack Flash. Because of Batgirl's unique upbringing, she has a higher then average control of her own body. For her perfect balance is second nature, and the ability to understand her body is perfect; not to mention that her sense of orientation is also flawless, no matter in what position she is in, Cassandra always knows up from down. Going through teleportation is the equivalent of us being thrown into a washing machine and having multi-colored lights flashing in our faces." J'onn explained. "So what's the solution?" Flash persisted. "Not to go through teleportation, or if that can not be help drugging her before hand. Also I would recommend avoiding any zero-g environment, since it will cause the same attack, in fact left long enough in such an environment it might be fatal for her."

That last bit was enough to make Batgirl sit up; which proved to be a very bad idea as another bout of vertigo hit her, making what was left in her stomach come back up. Thankfully a bucket magically appeared in front of her; which was good since she would have ended up vomiting all over the Flash and that wouldn't make a very good second impression. "Yum! Alfred's chocolate chip cookies." Cassandra looked up at the Flash in shock. He had the decency to laugh at the look she was giving him; "hey it's a compliment to Alfred. The fact that I can tell his cookies even when they look like that." He gave her a small smile. It felt nice; they didn't real leave at the best of circumstances the last time. The Flash was still angry that Batman had had her spy on the Elites; although Cassandra felt it was more the fact that Batman nor Batgirl had told him until everything blew up in all of there faces. She gave him a small smile in return, and he gave her an affectionate pate of the shoulder; it was the sign that there were no hard feelings.

"How are you feeling Batgirl?" Batman asked. "Like… I've been in a washer." Cassandra replied trying to sound like it hadn't been the worst experience in her life; and failing. With the Flash's help she made it to her feet, although the vertigo and sickness was gone; her balance was still slightly off. "How are you feeling NOW Batgirl?" He persisted. "Balance… off. No feel right." She couldn't really explain it any better then that. "Does it feel like you are walking on earth?" J'onn asked. "No… feels like… different. Can't explain… better." "Hum!" Both Batman and the Flash gave him looks; one of inquiry and the other of confusion. "It's the artificial gravity." J'onn answered there looks. "What do you mean the artificial gravity; you're telling me she can sense it. J'onn the gravity is one g like back on earth." Flash said in an annoyed amazed voice. "No matter how like earth it is Flash, it is not earth. Batgirl isn't the only one that has noticed the difference. Other members that are more attuned to the there own bodies or the gravitational forces have mentioned that before. It will pass as she gets accustomed to it." "Will she be able to test my theory?" Batman questioned; the mission coming first now that Batgirl was no longer in any danger. "She should have adapted by the time we reach the training room."

True to his word, Batgirl was feeling the unbalance less by the time they reached the training room. Although it was her first time on the space station; batgirl didn't feel out of place. True most people that passed her gave her a once over; it was rare to see anyone from the bat clan other then Batman on the station. But other then those no one made her feel uncomfortable. As for Batgirl she spent most of her time watching J'onn walk. It was strange; she had rarely been around aliens that had not lived there whole lives on earth. Watching him was like listening to someone who talked a language she knew but with a new accent. It was like the telepathic projection she had fought. Now that she knew what to look for, it was far clearer.

The training room dwarfed the bat cave, but then again it had to be big enough for the people that could fly. Batman instructed Batgirl to do some stretches and warm ups, mostly to get rid of the last vestige of the vertigo that had assaulted her, while he had some words with J'onn. After ten minutes of doing both she and J'onn were ready for whatever Batman had planed. "Batgirl you will spare with J'onn. Do not do the mental exercise I taught you. He will be reading your mind." Batman instructed her. Cassandra took a fighting stand and waited for J'onn to do the same; when he was ready she attacked. At first the fight was evenly matched; but when Cassandra entered her zone the fight was far more one sided.

She flowed around his attacks like water, and no matter how hard he tried to block her counterattack it was pathetically easy to get around his guard. If she hadn't been reading his emotions she would have thought that he was holding back. After half an hour of her basically beating J'onn; not to mentioning acquiring a crowd of onlookers Batman called a halt.

Flash's whispered "wow" embodied what everyone was thinking. Unlike the Flash most of the people that where in the training hall had never seen Batgirl do what she does better then anyone else on earth. Every one of the people who were present where the best of the best at what they do, and all of them had at the least basic knowledge of hand to hand. But watching Batgirl was like comparing a guppy to a shark; both knew how to swim but one was far more dangerous then the other. Batgirl wasn't paying any attention to what they were thinking of her at the moment, because she had figured out what Batman was trying to prove. "How" her question was simple but it held all that needed to be said. "Batgirl, when you fight you don't think of your moves, they simply flow out of you. There is no way an opponent can read them, translate them to something he understands and use that knowledge in a fight. You reaction speed is a few millisecond slower then the Flash." J'onn's explained.

"So it wasn't a telepath." She said, but before Batman could confirm that, J'onn intervened. "Not a telepath that was reading your thoughts but I do believe that you are on to something." Batman simply gave a look that was inquisitive. "Do you have the tape of the fight?" Batman handed it over and they made there way to a viewing room. It didn't take her long to realize that the CD was her fight against Batman captured by the security camera. Watching the fight was more insightful then she would have thought, again she saw the wrongness of the way the fake bat moved. At the moment of climax, when she finally connected, J'onn paused the tape. "What were you thinking at that moment Batgirl?" He asked her gently. Cassandra gave Batman an apologetic look before answering. "I knew that I can hit Batman. I… better then him. I could take him down." "And what were you thinking before that moment" "Dunno… just thinking that it wasn't Batman." J'onn simply settled back into his chair and stabled his fingers together. After a minute of silent contemplation he finally spoke. "Batgirl wasn't fighting someone creating an illusions; she was fighting people's belief in you." When all he got was silence he elaborated. "As long as Batgirl wasn't thinking of the illusion, it was feeding on the knowledge of the only other people available; meaning the two criminals. For them Batman is a creature of myth, an unstoppable force of justice that could not be defeated. Thus Batgirl had to fight there expectations. But when she asserted her own beliefs, the fact that she knew that she could defeat you, that all changed. For the illusion to remain faithful to whatever image of you it was feeding on it had to be defeated by her."

It was a lot to take in, not to mention that even Batgirl found multiple errors in the explanation. Thankfully Batman was more then willing to point them out. "First the two thugs were already unconscious when Batgirl fought the illusion, second someone did escape that scene so it was created by someone; so how did he enter Batgirls mind in the first place. Third if this thing is an image created by peoples expectations, then why would it let the criminals escape." "You are thinking of it on the lines of a mental illusion, it's not. The illusion has its own semi sentience; it was formed by the two criminals, because they expected to be captured. As long as Batgirl didn't impose her own belief on what they had already created then it would have played out what everyone expected it to do. I believe that Batgirl had helped the illusion alone; you can see the difference between how it fought before and after Batgirl showed up. She expected to see something that was you, so it became more realistic. The fact is that it did nothing more then emulate you. As for why it doesn't capture the criminals, that one is simple. No matter how realistic it is, an illusion can not cause real damage. For it to capture someone then it would have to hold on to them, something far harder to do then simply make them believe that they were hit. As for the foot steps, I believe that that was Batgirl's doing. She expected someone there so the illusion, even though it had dissipated, gave her what she wanted."

"How much of what you're telling me is speculation J'onn." Batman asked. "All of it, I do not have all the information. But on mars we had legends of illusion that were created by the waking dream. It was believed that if someone was powerful enough, they could make there beliefs take form. Before you ask I do not think it is the white Martians but it is a theory that should not be dismissed. Maybe a powerful enough telepath is doing just that." J'onn answered. "That doesn't explain the appearance of the other heroes in Gotham." Batman said before he took J'onn's place in front of the computer, after a minute of typing five different scenes came to life on the screen; each on of them a different event of hero sighting and the infamous Arabian knight. "In the first Superman sighting your theory would be right, the crooks where from Metropolis; so they would be afraid of Superman more then the Batman, but in the other sighting, the crooks where Gotham grown." Batman continued pointing to the first two scenes.

It was so obvious to Batgirl; she was surprised that the others had missed it. On the other hand, it was because she could read the body language of the people on the screen. Mainly it was the three criminals that where holding up the 7/11 where not afraid, so if J'onn theory was right, they would not have feared the appearance of any costumed heroes. But they weren't the only ones in the picture; there was the clerk, who looked ready to feint from having a gun pointed at his head, and a mother with her young son. The mother looked no less frightened then the clerk, but her son was starring at the criminals with the courage only the innocence of youth could bestow; he was wearing a superman shirt. Batgirl pointed out the boy and hoped that at least Batman would catch on. She wasn't sure she could explain it to them, even with her lovecraftian vocabulary. Thankfully Batman did catch on. "J'onn could these illusions form from something other then fear?" He asked already understanding what Batgirl was pointing out and giving her a quick nod of approval for her quick thinking. For Cassandra that made her feel infinitely better about herself; after all she had spotted something not even Batman had. "No matter what you might think Batman, fear is not the most powerful emotion. Conviction, love, courage even simple faith would be able to fuel the illusion." J'onn answered.

"Although it does speak highly of the telepath. Normally a telepath would be proficient with only one mode of… well fuel I suppose is the right word. For someone to be able to use any emotion… humm… it would require a truly powerful telepath. I do not know of any on this planet." Batgirl could tell that J'onn was losing hope in his theory. "And that might explain the other sighting of various heroes, but that doesn't explain the Arabian knight. Where would someone get that kind of image?" Batman continued. All of them were silent; that is until Batgirl gasped and nearly jumped up and down with glee. She figured it out, and before Batman again. And they said that the detective work was hard. "Movie!" She cried in excitement. "Premiere… crud aid… movie about crud aid." She cried. She was rather putout that the others, even Batman, were looking at her as if she had lost her mind. Sighting in exasperation, she pointed at the Arabian knight and repeated herself. It was almost as if a light clicked in Batman's head. "Crusade Cass… Crusade not crud aid. But you're right; a movie about the crusades had premiered that day. The criminal had snatched a purse of one of the movie goers, it would fallow that the first image that the victim had would be right out of the movie she just came out of."

"If that is true then I'm afraid that Batgirl's and my theory are wrong." J'onn said. Cassandra couldn't believe what she had heard; they had just spent the last hour proving it. How could this prove it wrong? "Batgirl for a telepath to be able to conjure any image, with that much realism; he would have to be more then powerful. It would mean that he is not fueling them at all. He is simply creating them; illusions so realistic that they could be captured by camera. If he was that powerful then he would have no problem capturing the criminals. He wouldn't need to result to such crude methods. This is not done with any rational thought; it's almost as if the illusions create themselves."

After another hour of the three of them coming up with, and then dismissing, theory after theory they were no closer to figuring out the mystery of the illusions. They had come up with something though; first it was not a shapshifter, and it wasn't a telepath.

But the biggest mystery was still unsolved.

Dear readers, which I hope I have some, I would like to ask your opinions. I have multiple drafts for the next chapters but I find myself in a crossroads. The ending of the story has already been written (yes I write the ending before the beginning) and I know how to get it there, but I am not sure if I want to add romance into the story. In chapter 1 and 2 I left hints, and I was wondering if I should keep on going, or just drop the whole idea, I could always add a new romance… anyway review and give me your opinions.


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